A Walt Disney World Weekend and Disney’s Polynesian Resort

This weekend my in-laws invited us to go to Disney with them and our nieces and nephew. We had an awesome weekend and it was so nice spending time with our family that we don’t get to see often due to time or distance. We are lucky to live in Florida where it’s easy to make a last-minute weekend trips to the “Happiest Place on Earth”, which is great in some aspects, but not so great in others. Here’s a little bit about our weekend and some things to think about doing next time you’re planning a trip to Disney.

Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort (photo via: Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort)

We stayed at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, which is their South Pacific themed on-site resort. The resort boasts a tropical vibe, from receiving a lei at check-in to the large tiki man fountain in the center of the lobby, it feels as if you just landed in Hawaii. Of course, this is Disney, so there’s Lilo & Stitch decor around the hotel. There is an awesome, kid-friendly pool called Lava Pool, that could keep kids busy for hours. The rooms were nice, but to be honest, for the price, I expected a little more. I wasn’t blown away by anything at the hotel, but that doesn’t mean anything. I would recommend getting a dining plan if you will be eating on any Disney property, it definitely was worth the cost since it can be used throughout the Disney parks and other hotels, so basically almost every meal on property could be covered, even “snacks” such as a water or soda in the park.

We took the tram from the hotel to the park, where we spent almost 12 hours total at Disney’s Magic Kingdom in one day. And we definitely didn’t see everything. It’s been a while since I last visited a Disney park, so it was fun seeing what’s changed/improved. We ate at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant from Lady and the Tramp, I had a multigrain pasta primavera, which was good, except there were too many mushrooms and peppers, neither of which I enjoy much. I would recommend the spaghetti or the 3 meatball sliders that come with delicious homemade potato chips. Those were a big hit at the table. As far as dessert goes, between all of us, we tried everything on the menu, and I would recommend the chocolate gelato. The chocolate cake was just okay, the cheesecake was not even worth finishing, and I thought the pistachio creme brûlée was yummy, but others thought it had a “almond extract flavoring” which they were not a fan of. All of this was covered by our meal plan, btw. I expected the park to be less crowded at night time, but I think it was about the same, if not more crowded at night (at least it wasn’t hot and sunny at night). We stayed until the fireworks around 10pm, then took the tram back crash at the resort.

Me and Joe with tropical Mickey at breakfast

We began our final morning with a character dining experience at our resort. It included a table visit from Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch, as well as a character/guest parade around the restaurant every 45 minutes. The kids had a blast and loved getting a special visit from each character. The food came out family style and was unlimited, so a huge tray of breakfast delights was brought to the table, including Mickey and Stitch waffles, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, biscuits and monkey bread. Between 8 of us, we asked for seconds of a few things, but in all there was plenty to go around. Service was great, our waiter was “Uncle Dave”… going with the “family style” theme.

Some tips for your next Disney vacation:

1. If you are going to shell out for a hotel on-site, be sure to utilize the amenities the hotel has to offer. I would hate paying so much for a room that I only used to sleep for 8 hours a night and then leave all day. The Disney hotels alone could probably be as fun for children as the parks, and not nearly as crowded. That’s also something to consider – just plan a weekend vacation at a Disney resort and skip the park all together. There’s plenty to do and see between the hotels and Downtown Disney.

The kids with Stitch at breakfast

2. If you want to do anything “extra” on the premise, such as character dining (available at these restaurants), fast passes, a princess makeover, or anything else that may require a reservation, make a reservation as far in advance as you possibly can. A downside (and upside) of living so close to Disney is that we can jump in the car and decide to go to Disney any day we want, but many people can’t do that and they plan these trips months in advance, so reservations are quite hard to come by with short notice. We lucked out and caught a character dining reservation at our hotel the night before the breakfast, otherwise all of the restaurants were all booked for such a large party. And fast passes aren’t the same as they used to be either, we got fast passes for a certain number of rides that we could book in advance for a specific time, again, most rides were already booked a long time ago.

3. Buy a meal plan, most of which are valid at basically any Disney location that sells food. I don’t believe alcohol is included, at least not in our package, maybe in others. This certainly was a good investment, and covered all of our food throughout the trip, except for the character dining.

My Disney MagicBand

4. If you aren’t staying at a Disney hotel, order a Disney MagicBand online before your trip. If you are staying at a Disney hotel, you will receive a MagicBand, which is possibly one of the coolest things Disney has incorporated into their experience. This MagicBand is a waterproof bracelet (it looks like a fitness tracker) that acts as your room key, park ticket, fast pass, credit card, even a way to keep ride photos in one place. Everyone staying at a hotel receives a band, and they are adjustable to fit wrists of all sizes. Joe and I received plain grey bands, but the rest of our party, who checked in earlier, had a nicer front desk associate who went to the back and gave them colored bands.

5. Don’t forget sunscreen! This is Florida after all, and even I’m guilty of forgetting, but when you spend hours and hours at a theme park, you may not realize you’re burning. But you are burning, and you will end up with bad tan lines, red skin, and one step closer to acquiring skin cancer. And none of those things sound pleasant.

Do you have a favorite Disney hotel or theme park? Or are you planning a Disney vacation anytime soon? I would love to hear about it in the comments below.

There’s so much more I could say, but I do need to work on getting these posts shorter so they don’t drag on so long. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

xx,

Kirsten